ALAMOGORDO – The Alamogordo City Commission approved 4 to 3 a memorandum of understanding between Otero County, Village of Ruidoso, City of Ruidoso Downs, the 12th Judicial District Attorney and Lincoln County to form the drug enforcement task force White Mountain Task Force, a part of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program.

Not all entities have approved the MOU yet.

“We’re not joining HIDTA with this, we’re joining the White Mountain Task Force,” Alamogordo City Attorney Petria Schreiber said. “We will have to sign an agreement with the county before we actually join HIDTA.”

Alamogordo Police Chief Brian Peete did a presentation on HIDTA at the regular Alamogordo City Commission meeting Aug. 28.

There will be neither up-front costs nor will there be any other costs plus overtime will be reimbursed and Lincoln County will be the fiscal agent, Peete said.

Once the county approves the MOU, they will send the city an agreement and once that agreement is signed by the city and Lea County, the city will be able to receive reimbursements from overtime accrued by officers working on White Mountain Task Force business and until that agreement is signed, the city will be responsible for all costs, Schreiber said.

With the MOU’s approval, APD officers will be cross-commissioned to work with the task force, Peete said.

However, according to the MOU, there is no guarantee that funds will be reimbursed.

The officers will be cross-commissioned to work in Lincoln County which will give them jurisdiction there.

However, the question of personnel came up.

Peete mentioned that APD is currently a reactive police force instead of being both proactive and reactive. The addition of APD to the White Mountain Task Force would help APD to become more proactive.

This means that Peete hopes to be able to tackle issues with more of a head-on approach instead of call-by-call.

“Right now, there are many issues,” Peete said. “When we have individuals that are on vacation or in training or on military leave, we’re just being a reactive police force. The goal is to move to a more proactive policing role.”

APD will have one or two officers working narcotics in the coming months, Peete said.

Since APD already works with the Otero County Sheriff’s Office, Peete does not foresee any issues with that agency although the current sheriff is not a fan of HIDTA.

“There was just too much federal involvement,” Sheriff Benny House said. “It’s a federally funded program that forces the sheriff’s office to cross-commission federal agents to work and a board oversees the drug unit, and the board directs the employees. The board also has federal law enforcement on it and they’re controlling the law enforcement at the local level. I just don’t agree with that. I think that there’s a place for federal law enforcement but it’s not in enforcement of state and local laws. They need to be enforcing the federal laws.”

Alamogordo City Commissioner Susan Payne was not impressed by the option of doing this now.

“I see a train wreck. I’m thinking all these agencies trying to work together,” Payne said. “You’re going to have your policies. Lincoln County will have theirs and the sheriff’s department has theirs so who supersedes who? I would feel more comfortable if I knew all of those kinds of things.”

Peete responded that doing this now will help him plan for when he has more officers on duty. He has some at the Law Enforcement Academy and a couple of new certified police officers.

“In planning for this now, I can plan for future police operations,” Peete said. “If I don’t plan for this now, three months from now, I’ll be three months behind the power curve in implementing those programs.”

Otero County was a part of HIDTA once and left due to organizational and leadership issues.

By rejoining HIDTA, APD may become eligible for more federal funding, Peete said. HIDTA is run by the United States Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The timing was an issue for some commissioners since Otero County may not be on board until Sheriff-Elect Black takes office.

Peete responded that going in now would allow him to plan for the implementation early next year.